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Kurau Field Trip VII – Day 1-7

Yes, another Kurau Field Trip.This one is the Seventh.Many people believe that Seven is a magical number, but for me, this Seventh trip is indeed quite an experience for me. First, I was told to do this Field Trip when I was still taking a course in Lembang. The order was quite a shocking surprise because I thought I would be very tired with the course and having only two days at home after a course would be very yielding to my condition.

But a duty is a duty (and I am well paid too doing these duties), so off I went on a blind monday morning, after taking only two days on weekend resting after a very demanding course.

But this little rest was not the most alarming. What was the most alarming was the fact that the field trip order was quite unclear: Do a Modified Isochronal Test on well X or Do a Production Logging and Testing on wells on Y field.

It was not till I arrived at Kurau when I got my priority: Do a Modified Isochronal Test on Well X.

So I went to my accomodation at Kurau, changed my clothings to field uniform, and bring my still fatigued butt to the Well X, a boat trip and a 5 km trek through bumpy road far.

Hmm, did I mention that I had to bring my junior and teach him the ropes? That’s another complication I have to bear.

So, I took the jetboat trip. Well, travelling by jetboat is not a new thing for me, and I kinda like it. Bathing in the sun while cruising on a speeding jetboat splitting the waves is kinda cool experiment, you gotta to try it sometimes.

Landed on a creaky old wooden jetty, the familiar feeling of being stranded on an island greeted me. If not for the amount of people and heavy machineries running about the jetty, it will be close to being stranded to an Island for me.

After waiting for some time, watching the deceptively gentle sway of the brown colored seawater and workers running about their works, a car arrived. Like all good stranded people should, I asked the driver whether he could take me to my destination.

Thanks God I asked.

So there I went, in a car driven by a total stranger, moving to my destination, a gas well underwent testing. After 30 minutes of bumping, rocking, swaying, cursing, and chit-chatting while cruising on a bumpy gravels-and-sands-road, I finally arrived.

Went straight to the Companymen’s portable camp (or usually referred to as Doghouse), I greeted my colleagues who had spent 19 days on that remote well site area. They look haggard, tired, sunburnt, and jumpy, but they greeted me nonetheless, for I am their salvation, their ticket to be able to return home.

I am their shift replacement.

Me and the junior engineer anyway.

But they won’t be leaving at once, no. They still owed a job involving opening a downhole tubing window (go figures) which had been resisting all attempts to be closed. So I let them do it and let my lazy butt sleep.

But it turned out the window was more stubborn than the men trying to close it off, so the entire project was postponed, and the entire equipments was demobilized to their home sites.

And Me and my junior went back to the base, to go for my other intended projet: Well Production Logging jobs on a number of wells.

Well, first of all, I have to told the Production Manager about the project. Told.Then I have to rent some cranes and trailers. Rented.Then I have to gather some wirelines and slicklines crew. Gathered.Then I have to check the well sites. Checked. Found that a well site was jam packed by heavy equipments of a standbying drilling contractor. Had to provide a space for the job. Done.

So, with everything set, I let the project rolled.

Day 3 found me doing PL job on a relatively new well. The job went not without problems. First, one strand of the composite wirelines were snapped, resulting in obstruction. The wireline must be cut for about 2500 ft long. After cutting, the obstruction was no more.

The logging part itself went well, and data could be obtained.

Another problem arise when the well was about to be plugged. The plug was intended to seal a hole so that the fluid can be pumped out of the well. The plug-setting was succesful, but there seems to be no fluid pumped out of the well when it was started up, so there must be something wrong with the plugging.

After some trial and errors, including ramming the plug to ensure it was properly sealing, the plug was pulled out.

Careful examination yielded that the plug was defected and some parts of it must be replaced. So the replacements were made, and the plug was re-set back into the well.Starting up the well, it can be seen that the reparation did the trick, and the job could be concluded.

So I called it a day and returned all equipments to their home sites to be moved again the next day.

Now, all men must rest.

Before you see more of this post, take a break and see this piece of heaven:

Isn’t Harumi Nemoto adorable…with that I-cup sized breasts and nice-to-behold face…..too bad nothing like this one can be seen here where I am stranded..

Okay, let’s get back the job: day 5 to 7.

Basically, day 5 to 7 went without significants problem. The wirelines acted fine, the plugs acted fine, data could be obtained, and everyone’s happy went the job can be concluded nicely.

Well, not so finely done, no. First, there was this problem with production operator called to shut down the well. Called at 5 p.m, he didn’t show up till 7.30 p.m, wasting a good two and a half hours. Then there was the problem with the crane operator raising the crane and causing the wireline to go high tension and almost snapped.

But those are somewhat minor problems, didn’t give to severe an effect to the operation.